“A detective whose only goal is to ruin my family.”
“No…yes…I don’t know.”Goddammit.
“Which is it, Lorik?” she snapped. “Yes or no?”
“I don’t fucking know.”
“See, I knew you were investigating my family. But I never knew your obsession ran this deep.” She pointed toward the cabinet. “You took pictures of us—of me. You spied on us. Good God, Lorik, this cabinet is like a fucking shrine of everything Valenti.”
“Stop it, Karina, please. It’s different now.”
“Why? Because you fucked me? Because you fucked the infamous crime boss’s daughter?” She pushed her curls out of her face.
“No. That’s not it. Goddammit, Karina. Surely you know the kind of business your father runs. Tell me you’re not that naïve.”
She stepped back and bit her bottom lip. “No, I’m not naïve when it comes to my family, Lorik. Apparently, I’m only naïve when it comes to men.” She stormed past me, and I tried to reach for her, but she stepped out of my reach.
“Karina, please.”
“Fuck you, Lorik.” She grabbed her clothes off the floor and started to get dressed.
“Don’t go. Let’s talk about this,” I pleaded, desperate to get her to stay.Why?
“There’s nothing to talk about.” She pulled her dark curls out from under her shirt. “Like you said, you’re a detective, and I’m what you keep calling a mafia princess.” Her eyes widened, like she just had one motherfucker of a revelation. “That’s it, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“That’s why you seduced me. You’re using me to get to my dad, my brothers.”
I quickly moved around the bed toward her. “No, that is—”
“Stay the fuck away from me.” She held up her hands, and my chest felt like it had been cracked wide open. I hated that she didn’t want me near her.
“Karina, I’m not using you.”
“Like hell, you’re not. My God, it’s always about my family and my surname, never about me.” She let out a nervous laugh, then looked up at the ceiling before her saddened gaze settled on me. In that moment, seeing the unshed tears gleaming in her eyes, I wanted to wrap my arms around her and do everything in my power to convince her this thing between us was so much more.
But then she said the words that ripped my goddamn soul out.
“First it was Enzio…and now you.”
Hearing her compare me to that bastard hit me square in the fucking chest, mainly because she had every right to think that. She had every reason to doubt my intentions. For the last few years, my sole mission on the police force was to take down the Valentis because I was so damn sure they were behind all the crime in this city. But during the last forty-eight hours, everything had changed—the conversation with Anderson, the altercation with the Mancusos, Enzio’s threat…her. So much had happened, and now I wasn’t so sure everything was as black and white as I had always suspected.
“Karina.” I moved toward her, determined to make her understand. “I totally get why you might think that, but it can’t be farther from the truth. My intention was never to use you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So, your bullshit excuse about a supposedly stolen credit card wasn’t a way for you to use me to get information on my dad?”
“It was different then.”
She snorted. “You say that like it’s a long time ago. It was two days ago. The only difference is I hadn’t opened my legs for you yet.”
“Don’t.” I grabbed her elbow and pulled her hard against me. “Don’t you fucking dare make what happened between us sound so goddamn cheap.”
“I don’t have to,” she said softly, then pointed toward the cabinet. “That already does.”
She jerked her arms free from my hold and took a few steps back while a tear finally slipped down her cheek.
I was frozen on the goddamn spot. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t stop her. She had every right to be angry, so I let her go. All I could do was stand there and watch as she left, while it felt like my heart had been cut open.